AV1 vs HEVC vs VP9 for Browser Video in 2026
Where each codec is supported, which chips decode them in hardware, and what to actually ship in production video pipelines this year.
AV1 vs HEVC vs VP9 for Browser Video in 2026
The "which video codec should I use on the web" question had a simple answer from about 2013 to 2019: H.264, everywhere, done. It is not that simple anymore. Hardware decoders for AV1 are in every laptop shipped in the last two years, HEVC finally plays in Chrome without flags, and VP9 is quietly still the workhorse of YouTube. Here is what the 2026 picture actually looks like if you are shipping video today.
Browser support matrix
| Codec | Chrome/Edge | Safari | Firefox | HW decode common? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H.264 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Since 2010 |
| VP9 | Yes | 14+ | Yes | Since ~2017 |
| HEVC (H.265) | 107+ (HW only) | 11+ | 134+ | Since ~2015 |
| AV1 | 70+ | 17+ (M3+) | 67+ | Apple M3+, Intel 11th gen+, AMD 7000+, Nvidia 30-series+ |
| VVC (H.266) | No | No | No | Not on consumer GPUs yet |
The big shift since 2024 is that Firefox finally shipped HEVC decode on Windows and macOS in version 134, and Safari shipped AV1 decode on Apple Silicon M3 and later. That means every current browser on every current OS can play AV1 or HEVC. The question is whether they can play it without roasting the battery.
Hardware decode is the whole ballgame
Software decode of 4K AV1 on a recent laptop pulls 15 to 25 W and saturates four cores. Hardware decode on the same chip is under 1 W. For anything over 1080p, you need hardware decode or your users will notice.
Current state of hardware AV1 decode:
- Apple: M3, M4, A17 Pro, A18. The M1 and M2 do not decode AV1 in hardware — they software-decode fine up to 1440p but fan up on 4K.
- Intel: Tiger Lake (11th gen) and newer have AV1 decode. Arc GPUs encode AV1 too.
- AMD: RDNA 2 (RX 6000, Ryzen 6000 mobile) for decode. RDNA 3 for encode.
- Nvidia: Ampere (RTX 30) decode, Ada (RTX 40) encode.
- Qualcomm: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and newer.
HEVC hardware decode has been near-universal since about 2016. VP9 hardware decode is also everywhere except on very old Intel iGPUs.
Licensing reality check
HEVC royalties are still a mess. There are three patent pools (MPEG LA, HEVC Advance/Access Advance, Velos Media) plus Technicolor doing its own thing. If you are a large publisher distributing HEVC, you are probably paying someone. AV1 is royalty-free under the Alliance for Open Media terms. VP9 is royalty-free too. This is why YouTube, Netflix, and Meta moved to AV1 aggressively — the per-stream savings compound.
File size at equal quality
Measured on the standard Netflix "El Fuente" 1080p test clip, targeting VMAF 93:
| Codec | Bitrate | Relative size |
|---|---|---|
| H.264 | 4.8 Mbps | 100% |
| VP9 | 3.2 Mbps | 67% |
| HEVC | 2.9 Mbps | 60% |
| AV1 | 2.4 Mbps | 50% |
AV1 is roughly half the bits of H.264 at the same perceptual quality. Against HEVC, the win is 15 to 20 percent — real, but smaller than the marketing slides suggest.
What to ship
For general-purpose web video in 2026, the defensible stack is:
- AV1 as the primary delivery codec for anything you serve at scale. It is royalty-free, universally decodable, and the smallest.
- HEVC as a fallback for users on hardware without AV1 decode (Apple M1/M2, Intel 10th gen and older). Serve via HLS with
CODECS="hvc1.2.4.L123.B0". - H.264 as the floor. Still required for really old devices, embedded webviews, and anything pre-2017.
- VP9 only if you already have a VP9 pipeline and it works. Not worth building fresh in 2026.
Encode AV1 with libsvtav1 at preset 6 or 7 for live, preset 4 for VOD. The old libaom-av1 is 10 to 30 times slower for about 5 percent better compression — not worth it unless you are doing archival.
Converting existing content
If you have a folder of H.264 MP4s or older MOV files and want to cut your storage bill, transcoding them once to AV1 is straightforward. The video converter handles AV1 output directly in the browser for files under ~200 MB; larger files go through cloud encode on paid plans. For format deep dives on specific conversions, the WebCodecs write-up covers the pipeline side.
The short version
Ship AV1 with an HEVC fallback. Only fall back to H.264 for clients that actually need it. Do not add VVC until at least one major browser decodes it in hardware, which is not happening in 2026.